1 long road, 1 short brings YSU students to Saturday graduation

By BOB JACKSON

news@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

One took the long road and one took the short road, but Cameron Dinopoulos and Jeff Kalina ended up at the same place at the same time.

Separated in age by nearly three decades, both men received diplomas Saturday morning during commencement ceremonies at Youngstown State University.

Dinopoulos reached his educational milestone at just 19 years old, and after spending less than two years as a full-time college student. It took 48-year-old Kalina eight years, but both said it took loads of hard work and dedication to get to the graduation podium.

Dinopoulos started taking college classes while he was still a junior at Poland Seminary High School, from which he graduated in 2013, under a plan established by Ohio Senate Bill 140, which allows qualified high school students to take college-level courses, tuition free.

He’d already completed more than 30 credit hours of college classes when he enrolled as a full-time YSU student, which put him at sophomore status.

From there, he kept his education on the fast-track, but still was surprised at how quickly he got to the finish line.

“It just kind of jumped up on me when I realized how far I had gotten,” he said.

“I didn’t realize how fast it would really go.”

His original plan was to follow in the footsteps of his father, Larry, and go to dental school.

But after he took his first couple computer science classes at YSU, his focus changed.

“I just loved it, and I was good at it,” he said. “I thought [computer science] might be my calling and that’s where I decided to go.”

He graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in computer science.

Cameron said he’s always been an achiever, especially with academics.

“I always wanted to be one of the top students, even when I was just a little kid,” he said.

“I participated in sports in high school, but I wasn’t really a sports guy. I wanted to excel in the classroom, and that’s what I really worked on. I always tried to be that type of student.”

He’s already got a job lined up with Bechtel Plant Machinery near Pittsburgh, which he said is the largest construction and engineering company in the United States.

He’s excited about starting his career, even though he’ll be so much younger than most of his peers.

He’s already had a taste of the corporate world by doing an internship with Texas Instruments.

“I’ve kind of gotten used to being the youngest one in the room, so it’s not really intimidating to me,” he said.

Remarkably, the heavy workload he carried to finish his degree early was one of the things that made his college experience so rewarding.

“The difficulty kept it fun,” Dinopoulos said.

“Sometimes in high school, I didn’t feel challenged enough.”

And by having the first two years of his college education paid for through SB 140, he also saved “a ton of money.”

Cameron said wants to get at least a year of work under his belt, but plans to eventually go back to school, to pursue either a master’s or doctorate degree.

Kalina, of Columbiana, spent 21 years in the Army Reserve, including 15 months in Iraq, after his 1986 graduation from Columbiana High School.

“After that, I just kind of did odd jobs,” he said. “I just wasn’t really getting anywhere with the career path I was taking.”

Eventually, he was hired at Commercial Metals Company in Youngstown, where he does quality control.

He said the company’s tuition reimbursement program is what prompted him to enroll at YSU and pursue a degree.

Because of his military background, the GI Bill also helped him pay for school.

He received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering technology, wearing a red, white, and blue cord around his neck, symbolic of his military service.

Kalina spent eight years at YSU, sometimes taking only one or two classes a semester because it was all his schedule as a full-time worker and family man would allow. Sometimes, the task at hand seemed overwhelming.

“It was a long road to get here,” he said. “But it’s finally paying off.”

The keynote speaker for the morning ceremony was Eric Spiegel, president and CEO of Siemens USA. Like Dinopoulos, Spiegel is a graduate of Poland Seminary High School.